Benedykt Konowalski, composer, conductor and pedagogue, died on 27 January 2021 in Warsaw. The Funeral Service will take place on 12 February at the Bródno Cemetery.
Benedykt Konowalski graduated from law at the University of Warsaw. Then he studied composition with Jan Maklakiewicz and Tadeusz Szeligowski (degree in 1960) as well as conducting under Stanisław Wisłocki (degree in 1964) at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw. In the years 1956–72 he was the music director of the Central Artistic Ensemble of the Polish Army in Warsaw. From 1966 he lectured at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, from 1987 as a professor. In the years 1984-87 he was the Vice-Rector of this institution.
He was a composer of symphonies, concerts, oratorios, chamber and choral works. His work includes suites, vocal, vocal-instrumental and ballet music as well an opera and songs for children. As a conductor, he conducted symphonic concerts in the country and abroad. He recorded music programmes for Polish Radio and TV and recorded a dozen or so CDs for Polish Records and the Philips phonographic company in Paris. He conducted performances in music theaters and philharmonics. He made many world premieres of works by contemporary Polish composers. He was a co-founder and in 1972-92 he was the chairman of the editorial board of the Music Publishing House of the Authors’ Agency in Warsaw.
Benedykt Konowalski was a laureate of the Composers' Competition of the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Composers' Union, the Feliks Nowowiejski International Organ Competition and the Grażyna Bacewicz International Composers' Competition. He was awarded, among others, the Knight's Cross, the Officer's Cross, the Honorary Badge of the ZAiKS Association of Authors, the “Polonia Mater Nostra Est” Order of the Social Foundation of Polish Nation Remembrance for Special Merits for the Nation and Polish State, the Medal Commemorating 80 Years of Polish Independence, the Medal of Merit to Polish Culture and the ZAiKS Association of Authors, the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis, the Medal of Merit to the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the “Milito Pro Christo” Medal.